Ash & Anvil -- A Detroit Business

Unlike most fashion companies, Ash & Anvil isn’t based in California or New York. Instead, you can find us in Detroit, Michigan. Maybe you're wondering why. We’re happy to let you know why we’ve picked Detroit as the home of Ash & Anvil’s shorter guy clothes!

Detroit has been described as a "small town in a big city,” and that’s a good way to think about our home. Detroit’s a big place, and at 142 sq. miles it's bigger than most, but it’s also a close enough community for many of its companies to work near each other, run into each other regularly, and befriend each other. It’s the sort of place where you’ll walk down the street (and yes, you can do that in Detroit) and recognize an old roommate or coworker more often than you'd expect. The upside to this intimacy applies to businesses, too: as we work in Detroit, it’s not a suffocating feeling of one company against another. Instead, we’re supporting each other in an effort to help redevelop and expand the city, attract new talent and opportunities, and continue modernizing and expanding Detroit’s many attractions! And slowly but surely, it’s working--there are many examples of people from the “big cities” relocating here instead of the other way around!

Detroit’s an incredibly diverse city and we’re all better off for it. You might know us as the land of Motown, or for our skilled rappers and producers, or as the place techno was invented. Detroit’s made of people of so many backgrounds, of many different immigrant communities, of the rich and the poor, of many faiths, speaking many languages, and so on. Through our local universities, markets, and events, Detroiters share their traditions, food, and history with each other. Unlike most American cities, if we want a quick break from the country, we can cross the Detroit River and go south into Canada for the day. Some cities are defined by just one thing--when you think of Boston, you think of the Irish. When you’re in Detroit you can drink at the Old Shillelagh, but you have so many other options too, and we love it this way.

There are a lot of stereotypes about Detroit, good and bad. You might have heard awful things about Detroit that have never been true, or were true once and aren’t anymore. As we live, work, spend time in, and invest in Detroit, we get to experience the city firsthand and hopefully redefine its reputation. Every day there’s new construction, or the restoration of buildings as old as our grandparents, and a seemingly endless stream of new businesses we’re happy to discover, share, and support. Detroit is alive and becoming more vibrant every day. There’s no place we’d rather build Ash & Anvil and design the best possible shorter guys, and we’ll be staying here for a long time.